Tübingen: Small Town, Big Adventures

It was a dark and stormy night as me and my friend Raph ran down a long, and winding hill, stopping every now and then to catch our breath beneath some trees. There were church bells ringing in the distance, like the soundtrack to a creepy horror movie, and occasionally we would past menacing road signs depicting bear-like images, and the odd man standing by the picnic table sharpening his knives....

This, by the way, is a true story.

Ok, maybe I should start from the beginning.

University of Tubingen

When I was planning my Europe trip during the summer, my friend Raph naturally suggested for me to visit him in Tubingen. Of course I would have visited him anyway, but the fact that it was the town my German prof was from, I had already sort of fallen in love with the place two years ago when she would bring in all the gorgeous photos of her hometown to show us in class.

Tubingen ended up being the last German city I would visit before I left for Switzerland, and while I only spent a day there, it was probably one of the most memorable experiences of my time in Europe (and that says a lot).

House of Friedrich Holderlin

Raph spent the first part of the day showing me around the town, which is largely a student town. The University of Tubingen, which he studies at, has campuses sprawled around the town, and as Raph says, "all the buses stop at the university." It reminded me a little bit of my university town...if my university town had castles and cobblestone roads, that is. 

Near the university, there is the Neckarinsel (Neckar Island) which is the scenic park, with the river which divides through the rows of historical looking houses. There is a cute little yellow house there that attracts quite a lot of tourists because it is the former home of the German poet, Friedrich Holderlin.

We walked along there and also went to the Altstadt (old town), the Rathaus (city hall) on Marktplatz (market place), and the Schloss Hohentubingen (a castle!) before deciding that we can not possible walk any further until we get some ice cream and Turkish food. As we were eating, we saw a sign for a carnival that was happening, and being the spontaneous people that we were, decided to go there right away.

We were expecting possibly clowns who made balloon animals and people on stilts or something, but instead, we came face to face with the most bizarre scene ever!!!

If we were in Asia, it would make sense, but in a little town in Germany, all the flashing neon lights screaming out words like "BREAK DANCE," and pictures of pink care bars, just seem completely out of place.

The whole scene was just too funny, and after walking around the carnival a few times we realized that we were the only ones there who were not:

1. Under 10 years of age
2. Accompanied by an adult

Raph then decides we should drive a bit out of town, to a place called Wurmlingen, to visit the little chapel perched on the hill. The walk up took about 25 minutes, and the scenery from up top was pretty amazing. Looking down, we could see all of the houses in the countryside.

It is there that we were able to bask in the glory of the cool evening air, contemplate life, and ask each other deep, thought provoking questions, such as, what should we eat for dinner?

And then it started to rain.

Really, really hard.

...which takes us back to the beginning of this story... with me and Raph running down the hill. The fact that I had watch a good number of horror movies in my high school days doesn't help our situation either, as with every few steps we ran, I would remark on how similar our situation is to many of those "serial killer with machete chasing young people in a pastoral setting, in the thunderstorm with church bells chiming" type slasher films.

Painting of the Chapel (imageevent.com)

Luckily, we got to his car in one piece, and he drove us back to his apartment, where we ordered pizza and drank some much needed alcohol. Unfortunately, I only brought one pair of jeans with me (I packed mostly shorts thinking it was going to be really hot in Germany and surprise! ....it wasn't)...and with that pair being completely drenched, we were forced to do some laundry so that I would have clothes to wear the next day. Unfortunately, Raph's laundry machine broke halfway into the cycle (no wonder the previous tenant gave it to him for free), and I was left with a pair of soapy, wet jeans.

For the remainder of the night, rather than going out with his friends as we originally planned, we ended up watching movies, while I attempted to dry my jeans with my hair dryer. I could tell Raph felt bad since he gave me lots of chocolate to cheer me up (and for the record, that always works), but I told him that I had a great day... and I meant it. I certainly had quite the adventure!

(And while my jeans never dried in time for Switzerland....well, that's another story).

The Tell-All Guide to Love and Sex on the Road

It's Valentine's Day!! (Traveler's Edition). So let's talk about love!

And sex!

But first a word of caution:

To any travelers who want to avoid future heartbreak, it is important to keep in mind that love and sex on the road are usually not interchangeable. Especially in hostels of 18-25 year olds drinking, partying, eating and showering under one roof, hook-ups become inevitable. It is similar to university dorms, but without the commitment. In university, frequent hook-ups can be awkward since you're living with the same people for an entire year. In hostels, it's almost a free pass. Travelers come and go, and the person you hook up with one night, probably won't be around the next.

Okay, let's go first with sex.

Where does it begin?
If you're at least decent looking, it is fairly easy to hook up with someone, especially after a few drinks. Travelers are more willing to make a first move, especially toward girls/guys they may feel "out of their league," because of the mentality that they'll never see them again after that day. You've already given up the comforts of your home to venture to the other side of the world, so sending a few drinks to the person you find cute doesn't seem like much of a gamble...

Making First Impressions
First impressions are key when traveling, because most travelers meet so many people a day, it's hard to remember who is who. Whether people admit to it or not, there's always an air of superficiality when it comes to travelers. There's a saying that goes, "women decide within the first 30 seconds of meeting a guy if she will sleep with him," which certainly has some truth to it. Travelers want bragging rights, and they want to show their friends pictures of the hot foreigner they've hooked up with, so being well-groomed goes a long way.

Where does it take place?
Depending on how you look at it, there can either be a lot of places or very limited places to hook up while traveling. The most common is in hostels, where the majority of travelers reside. One thing I have to say though, is that having sex in a hostel dorm full of people is not cool, especially to those who are really loud doing it. We are here to travel, not to involuntarily be in a porno. If you're looking for some alternative places to hook up in a hostel, this guy has some interesting ideas (clearly this was written before The Hangover came out).

Is it true love...or a fling?
Let's take some time to drink a nice cup of tea, eat some biscuits, and take a look at this diagram before we proceed:

http://www.rosiepiter.com

Cairo Time: A Movie Review

Last week on the train, I randomly decided to rent one of those 99 cent movies from the iTunes store from my laptop. Because movie posters with depicting pyramids always gets my vote, I quickly settled on a movie I've never heard of called "Cairo Time." After watching the movie, I must say, that was probably the best dollar I have ever spent (well, maybe not including that one time I was dying of thirst, and bought a big gulp from 7-Eleven. The miracles of American sizing!)

For those of you who are into movies set in exotic locations, filled with the possiblities of romance, and lots of hookah smoking, this movie is for you.

Patricia Clarkson plays a magazine editor named Juliette, who travels to Cairo with the inital intention of vacationing with her husband, a UN official working in Gaza. Her husband is in a work dilemma and has to delay Cairo for a few weeks. He then entrusts his Egyptian friend Tareq (Alexander Siddig) to show Juliette around the city.

At first, Juliette seems completely overwhelmed by Cairo, but somewhere in between smoking hookah with strange men and taking a boat ride down the Nile, she falls in love with Tareq. Of course, she is married with two kids, but when you have a dashing Egyptian man wearing a jellabiya in front of you, husbands just seem so irrelevant.

The movie has a slower pace that really allows you to take in the breathtaking beauty of Cairo. The music is beautifully suiting, and the film also touches upon more serious issues of gender inequalities, and the differences between the east and the west. Despite the grandeur of Cairo, the chemistry between Tareq and Juliette is so compiling, that I was secretly hoping for a passionate affair to spring out of their innocent friendship.

"They say that if you drink water from the Nile, you will always come back."

Verdict: A must see. Especially for 99 cents, it would be a crime not to watch it at least once.

Some things in life are actually still easy!

Today I applied for graduation. My university sent me an e-mail, and as I clicked on the link to the student portal, I expected the worst. I mean, after writing hundreds upon hundreds of research papers for the past four years, surely they can't let you off that easily. There must be some difficult quantum physics question that's required before they let you don that graduation gown and get your photo taken as you awkwardly shake hands with the university dean....right?

This is what happened.

The portal screen loads and prompts me with a question.

"Have you meet all the requirements to graduate this spring?"

I clicked on "Yes."

"Which faculty do you belong in?"

I clicked on "Arts and Humanities," then "Submit."

The screen loads.

Still loading...

and loading...

Then, "Congratulations! You have successfully applied for graduation!"

And of course I screamed and ran to the washroom and jumped up and down like I always do when I get really excited.

The Importance of a Good Book on the Train (A Swiftian Satire)

I love travelling by train. For one thing, there's the scenery which you miss when flying, and the comfortable seats that are nonexistent by coach bus. Unlike the "horrors" of flying or taking a bus, Hollywood is always trying to present train travel with an air of mystery and romance. I mean, didn't Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy meet on a train? Didn't Wendy profess her love to Xavier as he boards a train? Didn't Harry Potter go to Hogwarts...by TRAIN??

And while I have yet to stumble upon a school of wizards by simply taking the train, I'm sure we have all heard some story about a friend of a friend who once met the prince of some random country, or their future husband/wife on a train (or maybe just some hot guy/girl they hooked up with for about a week), to know that train travel is indeed very, erm... magical.

Which is why it's highly advisable to always bring a good book with you when traveling by train, in case you really do end up sitting next to a prince, your future husband/wife, or some hot guy that you will hook up with for a week. I mean while we are secretly dying (just DYING!) to read about Brangelina in the latest issue of COSMO magazine, would you want to be tallying up your score of HOW GOOD ARE YOU IN BED?*, only to find out that you've been sitting next to the cute great great great great grandson of Voltaire the entire time?

Exactly.

Therefore, the key is to find a book that should suggest to the world (aka your seat partner) that you are in fact a clever, highly intelligent person, who would be a delight to talk to. You don't even have to be reading said book; as long as it's stratgeically positioned on the pull-out tray table with the book title prominately showing, so that your seat partner is fully aware that you are, in fact, the owner of such a book.

Note: It's best to buy said book secondhand to give the impression that you've read it several times. It should also not be listed in the TIME's 100 Novels of All Time...because then it looks like you're trying too hard.

Here are some suggestions.

• Dangerous Liasons - Choderlos de Laclos 
• Flappers and Philosophers - F. Scott Fitzgerald
• The Dharma Bums - Jack Kerouac
• Death in the Afternoon - Ernest Hemingway
• The Beach - Alex Garland

And now I bid you all, a happy book hunting!

* Why do the quiz on a train, when you can do it from the comfort of your home here.

** Also speaking of quizzes, the last time I took one (err...a really long time ago, of course), it suggested that I immediately dump any guy I date who owns in his posession, a Drake album. I've therefore come to realize that these quizzes are actually all created by a psycho ex-girlfriend of Drake, and therefore these quizzes are not credible at all.

*** I scored really high on that quiz by the way.

We all have our baggage

I am seriously in love with these luggage tags created by Anne Taintor! They're cheeky, fun and I can totally picture myself sticking those "size matters" tags all over my luggage, and fantasizing about that "size matters" guy (look at the size of that....fish!!). 

What do you guys think of these tags? They seem like an easy way of adding some fun to your boring luggage bags...although at the same time, they are most likely to increase the chance of you getting hit on by the balding middle aged man in the airport waiting area (you know, the one with the two kids who are busily playing on their gameboys). 

$8.99 USD/each at http://annetaintor.com

What Keeps You Motivated?

Not traveling anywhere this holiday made me realize that I actually haven't travelled anywhere in over a year (says the girl with the travel blog).

Well...I did go to Europe during the summer, and Montreal several times throughout the year, but the last time I went anywhere that I can sincerely say "I've lived there and fully experienced the culture" was Australia, two years ago when I backpacked the country for four months.

I tell my friends this and they all reply with the same answer, which is, "don't worry, you're saving up for Europe." (#firstworldproblems). While this usually makes me instantly happy as images of the Eiffel Tower and Big Ben engulf my thoughts, it doesn't really make the "in-between time" go by any faster. Travel memoirs usually always begin with the writer talking about how they spent a year slaving away to work to save enough money to travel, and while in writing, this only takes about ten words to express, in reality, a year is a hell of a long time...

So the question for this week is, what is your "in-between time" therapy? What motivates you to not let your mundane job get to you as you slave away to save up for your travels?

Here are some of mine (if you're curious):

- Watching travel related movies and reading travel memoirs. Then envisioning a spin-off of the story featuring me and a certain boy doing exciting European things like eating croissants and reading the untranslated works of Proust (of course he is European and fluent in French, so he probably already does this daily).

- Keeping in contact with my friends from abroad. This is also particularly useful when I need places to crash - just kidding!

- Buying travel guide books and reading them in public places. That way, everyone will envy you on the subway as you sit there engrossed in "Lonely Planet: Morocco", while they are forced to read about Stephen Harper's new flannel shirt purchase in the daily paper.

- Shopping. Reasons include: "when I move to Europe everything will be more expensive since it's in Euros so buying this is actually an investment," or "everyone is taller in Europe so I should...buy more heels."

image source: atjeh-news.com